Reflect
by Dogtooth3030
Summary: With a flare of frustration, Sakura slapped them all lightly. "Get a hold of yourselves; a ninja doesn't freeze up in battle! I told you to leave!" The number of people around them had just doubled, Sakura could tell by their chakra. "NOW!" When Sakura is late, Sasuke gets worried. Should he be? Read and find out! One-shot, R&R! Rated 'T' for language


**This is just a little one-shot I came up with :)**

**Disclaimer ~ I do not own Naruto, but I do own this plot and Tashiga, Chigu, Kato, and Chihone.**

* * *

Time was weird.

A single day can seem like an eternity, while three years are here and gone. But all Sasuke had on his mind was Sakura and the fact that she was late from a practice patrol with her Genin team.

Sakura had been a Jounin for years and finally, Tsunade had given her a Genin team. The Uchiha had to admit, her team was impressive, definitely the most powerful Konoha Genin. But that was no excuse for her to be late.

He was searching the marketplace for her, the worry just beginning to gnaw at him, when Naruto ran into him. Literally.

"You dobe!"

"Bast-OW!"

Sasuke fell into the familiar routine of whacking the dumb blonde square on the head, the annoyance of his time-wasting self kicking in. But he wasn't here to pick a fight with the Uzumaki, he needed to find Sakura.

"Dobe, where's Sakura? She's late."

"Huh?" He rubbed his head, sprawled out on the ground. Hinata, who must have been with him earlier, was kneeling beside him, but wasn't too concerned with him. This happened way too often. "No, why? What's she late for?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Something she would never show up late for. Naruto, can you help me look for her? I think something bad is happening."

While the blonde was denser than a brick at times, he knew when to get serious. Hoping up to his feet - and helping his Hinata-chan up - he grunted, "Right! Last I saw her, she was leaving the village with Tashiga, Chigu, and Kato."

"I'll help." The Hyuuga heir volunteered. Her time spent dating Naruto had given her some much needed self confidence and now her stutter was gone.

Nodding in approval, the three began to leap from building tops, traveling much faster than through the hordes of people on the ground. "I'll check with the guards, see if they saw her or her team!" Sasuke yelled, a rarity. "Naruto, you check in with Tsunade. She could have gotten an emergency mission. Hinata-san, check the hospital. If she's not at any three places, then we'll search the patrol paths!"

"Right!" Naruto took off in the direction of the Hokage tower, nothing but a black and orange streak. Hinata merely nodded firmly before making her way to the hospital. Moving faster than the eye could see, Sasuke dashed to the village gate, making himself sick with worry the entire time. There was no way Sakura could be late, absolutely no way.

"Izumo! Kotetsu!" Both men perked up from their lackadaisical slouch, eager to do _something_. Sasuke landed in front of their stand. "Has Sakura passed though here?"

When they shook their heads, the Uchiha had to swallow down his growing anxiety. It certainly wasn't like Sakura to be tardy.

* * *

_'If I die now,'_ Sakura mused weakly, _'then I'll die satisfied.'_

Using all of her strength, she tracked her Genin team as they raced toward the village, their fear-tainted chakra easy to detect. When she finally sensed that they were close enough to the village to be safe, the kunoichi withdrew her chakra to herself. She didn't even try to heal herself, her wounds were far too serious and she had no where near the amount of chakra needed.

While showing her team Konoha's patrol paths, the medical nin had sensed some hostile chakra nearby.

~_Flashback~_

_"The path is fairly simple to remember, but it's always best to go with someone who knows it well before trying it by yourself," Sakura explained, leaping through the trees with all the silent skill of a master ninja._

_Tashiga, not nearly so learned, still made enough racket to scare every squirrel in the vicinity. "Sakura-sensei," she complained loudly, "that's not fair! I'm just as good as any stinkin' Chunnin, even better than some! Why can't we patrol, too?" Her brown boots stomped particularly hard and the poor branch fell before it eventually cluttered to the ground. They were up fairly high. _

_"Tashiga-chan, you know better," the mature one of the rowdy group, Chigu, chided lightly, slowing down slightly to untangle his long red scarf from a stray branch. (In Sakura's opinion, he was trying to emulate Kakashi, his idol, when he was still in ANBU). "We're very close to enemy boundaries, so the danger here is far greater than just the village outskirts. Right, sensei?"_

_"Good job, Chigu-kun," she praised before glancing to Kato on her right. "Kato-kun, why are you so quiet?"_

_"You're not scared, are you?" Tashiga sneered, ignoring Sakura's warning glare. "You're so weak, Kato! Grow up, we're ninja! You can't run away from everything with your tail between your legs like you do! You and your stupid runt!"_

_Inuzuka Kato glared at her, his smaller-than-average puppy, Chihone, growling at her. Sakura sighed, rubbing her nose. Tashiga was always the one to rush headlong into a fight, while Kato wanted to run and hide. Chigu was the in-between one, carefully weighing all options and choosing the best course of action. However, he wasn't much of a fighter. The more she thought about it, the more she was able to see the resemblance to him and his cousin, Akimichi Choji._

_"Tashiga, you would be foolish to not be scared of patrolling alone," she admonished lightly, not wanting to frighten them but knowing that they needed a reality check every now and then. "Have you ever heard of Suzuki?" When they shook their head, Sakura continued. "Suzuki was a young, headstrong Genin who thought he was better than everyone else. To prove himself to his accomplished older brother, he left the village by himself at night. When the village woke up and discovered him missing, they spent three days searching for him."_

_"D-did they find him, Sakura-sensei?" Kato whispered, black eyes wide and innocent._

_"After they dug him up from where some rouge ninja had buried him alive in a ninjutsu, yes. They found him."_

_Gulping, Tashiga scoffed, "Yeah, right! You probably made that up to scare us!"_

_Sakura shrugged, well-versed in how to deal with the troublesome Yamanaka, "Suit yourself, Tashi-chan, but don't say I didn't - wait." The Jounin stopped so suddenly that her Genin team didn't even realize that she wasn't with them anymore until they were yards ahead of her. They had just stopped when she screamed at them, "Move, now!"_

_Fortunately, she had trained them to react to certain words before they could think about them, so as soon as she screamed, they were able to barely avoid the large blade that cleaved the tree in two. They were by her side in an instant, Sakura crouched in front of them protectively._

_"You are on Konohagakure land, ninja-san! Leave immediately or I will attack!"_

_There wasn't an answer for a moment until harsh laughter rang out like a brass bell, "Hello, Haruno Sakura, famed medical ninja from Konoha! I have to admit, I am honored to finally meet you, Haruno-chan!"_

_"If so," she called back, trying to pinpoint his location, "then why are you attacking my team? They're just Genin on a practice patrol!"_

_With surprising rage, the male voice howled back, "Because they_ are_ Genin! They don't deserve to be near your presence! They disrespect you at every opportunity, and laugh at your warnings! Ungrateful brats like that are trash!" Kunai shot out from behind some foliage and, moving quickly, Sakura deflected them with her own kunai, one in each hand. Finally, the stranger allowed his chakra to leak out and Sakura gasped. It wasn't that his chakra was powerful, but there was more than one enemy present and if she had to protect her Genin team as well as fight them, she'd be as good as dead._

_"Tashiga, Chigu, Kato, I need you guys to get out of here and go back to Konoha. I'll send some clones with you to protect you, but you have to hurry." When she didn't feel them move, the medic nin glanced behind her to see three, terror-stricken faces staring back at her. Tashiga, for all her boasting, was trembling, while Kato looked like he was about to pass out._

_With a flare of frustration, Sakura slapped them all lightly. "Get a hold of yourselves; a ninja_ doesn't_ freeze up in battle! I told you to leave!" The number of people around them had just doubled, Sakura could tell by their chakra. "NOW!"_

_Kato was the first to recover and he began shaking Chigu hard, yelling at him to snap out of it. Chihone bit Tashiga on the ankle, not hard enough to break skin but enough for her to yelp and break the trance of fear._

_"Go!" The number had tripled. Now Sakura was getting nervous. She quickly made two shadow clones and five bounded off toward Konoha, the clones deflecting all the weaponry that was shot at them. When Sakura felt the focus of the group shift toward her team, anger exploded in her and she jumped off of her tree branch, falling at an alarming rate toward the ground. As she predicted, they all began to follow her. The smarter ones stayed behind and for good reason._

_With an enraged growl, Sakura punched the ground with all her might, the ground cracking further than she could see. The main ninja didn't seem hostile toward her so she hoped that by putting on a good show of her power, it might disinterest him._

_"I'm still here, bastards! Now, what the hell do you want?"_

_A form emerged from behind one of the felled trees, laughed loudly. "Ahahaha! You are just as playful as I've heard about, Haruno-chan! Do you want to play with me?" His teasing grin suggested a different kind of play._

_Not giving him the satisfaction of an answer, Sakura merely attacked him, trying to delay them long enough for her team to make it back to Konoha._

_"Where are you from!" She lashed out with a bone-breaking kick which he dodged._

_"I was from Kiri, dear Sakura, but I am now a missing ninja," he retaliated with a slash from his katana, his joking demeanor never lessening. It nicked her leg and a horrifying, numbing sensation ran up her leg._

_With a snarl, Sakura made to punch him with her left fist, but hit him hard in the gut with her right when he tried to dodge. Unfortunately, he dissolved into earth soon after. "An earth clone!" As she turned to locate him, a sharp, burning pain in her abdomen made her gasp before she was soon coughing up large amounts of blood. The poison had slowed her reflexes down rapidly._

_The strange ninja chuckled darkly. "See, Haruno-chan. Maybe if your pathetic Genin were worth something, they could have helped you." As Sakura gasped for breath raggedly, the different chakras around her began to move, shifting downward until they all met in one place: the stranger ninja._

_"Y-you . . . j-just you?"_

_He knelt, tenderly wiping the blood off of her cheek, "Yes, just me. You see, I have been infatuated with you since I first heard of your victory over Sasori of the Red Sand. I wanted you for myself." As he talked, he had drawn out a kunai and was now cutting her slowly, painfully. The more it cut her, the more numb her body became. "So I stalked you for over a year. I integrated myself into the Konoha crowd and watched as you became even more powerful then ever before. But then you got your team," his grip in the kunai tightened and he stabbed into her arm, missing her heart by a few inches. Sakura closed her eyes and wheezed in pain._

_"When the Hokage stuck those pathetic excuses for ninja with you, you stopped training. You didn't get weaker, but you didn't get stronger. Those children are holding you back!" Again, in a fit of rage, he jabbed the kunai in her gut, missing vital organs, but then he twisted it. Somewhere, Sakura found the strength to cry out in agony. However, while she was being tortured, her hand was creeping toward her tanto, a special gift from Kakashi when she became Jounin._

_The stranger ninja leaned down until his face was mere inches away from hers. "I'm here to help liberate you from them, Haruno-chan. I'm here to set you free."_

_Sakura's green eyes, bright with unshed tears of agony and defeat, could only watch as he shoved the kunai deep into her sternum, piercing a lung and barely nicking a major artery. As she lay, motionless from poison and pain, he leaned down further and kissed her nose. It was then that Sakura summoned all her strength and stabbed him. And, unlike him, she didn't miss the vital organs._

_With a strangled gasp, he died almost instantly, falling over to the side of the wounded kunoichi._

_~Flashback End~_

Coughing again, Sakura turned her head away from her own blood, finally allowing her clones to dissolve and gain some much needed chakra. It was far too late for her now, but she could still savor the last bits of life.

There was so much that she wanted to say to so many people. However, the only person her death-hazed mind could focus on was Sasuke.

Sasuke. He had changed so much and so little at the same time. When she and Naruto brought him back, the entire village went into an uproar, some demanding that the government execute him, some vehemently promoting his better qualities (being on the last Uchiha alive helped his case tremendously). Eventually, all charges were dropped and he only had to serve a year of community service before being allowed to become a ninja.

During that year, he was also forbidden from living alone, so for the first couple of months he just moved from Sakura, to Naruto, and to Kakashi. But during those months, he and Sakura had grown closer, far more than friendship but not yet relationship. (What went on in those few months is better said at a different time. Another story, perhaps? ^^)

And today . . . her heart crumpled a bit when she realized that she was very late for her thing with Sasuke. Her gaze staring straight up, she saw the sunset stain the sky in unspeakably brilliant and broad strokes of oranges and pinks. The dying ninja smiled faintly. God must be smiling on her, for her last sunset to be so awe-strikingly resplendent.

Her eyes were just about to close when the ground shook and a voice boomed out her name, far away but getting closer by the second at a shocking rate.

"Sakura!" Sasuke had never been one to scream, but the site before him was enough to coax one out of his throat. The ground was splintered, a trademark of Sakura, and trees were down for nearly a mile away. It took him longer than he would like to find her, not because of the utter destruction on the earth, but because her chakra was nearly completely depleted.

He skid to a halt beside her, giving the deceased man beside him a mere glance before taking in Sakura and her numerous injuries. Hissing in sympathy, he gently touched her neck, the frenzied ninja barely able to think straight. When he felt her pulse, while weak but still there, under his fingers, the weight that lifted off of his shoulders could easily compete with the mass of a couple stars.

"Sa . . . Sasuke?" The quiet voice that could barely cough out his name caught his attention and he grasped her hand.

"Sakura, I'm here. It'll be alright, I'll get you to a hospital in no time. Just hang on!" He put his arms under her and winced when she whimpered in a way that twisted his heart. Straightening up, he held her bridal style and, making sure her head was cradled on his shoulder, took off toward Konoha.

"Sa-" she coughed up an alarmingly large amount of blood, "Sasuke. The-there's no . . . point in t-trying to . . . save m-me."

"Just stop talking," he snapped, worry for her making him act rashly. The Uchiha immediately felt sorry for snapping at her, but all she did was grin weakly.

"I-I can't . . . can't die be-before I-I tell-"

"Don't say that! You're not going to die!"

She tried to say something else, but her voice withered in her throat and her dimmed viridian eyes began to close. "Shit," Sasuke snarled under his breath, moving even faster than before.

"Teme! Did you find Sa-" He cut himself off with a gasp when he saw Sasuke carrying his bloodied and pale teammate. "Fuck! What the hell happened?" He yelled, the Kyuubi already making his whiskers more prominent.

"The guy who did this is already dead," Sasuke grunted. "But I didn't see her team." If he were honest, he was so worried about Sakura that he didn't even look.

"I already saw them," Naruto got closer, getting angrier the more he realized how serious her injuries were. "They told me that Sakura sent them back when they were attacked. But as soon as Hinata-chan got to them, her clones vanished. Sasuke, she really doesn't look good."

He was right, her body was getting colder and stiller. Completely unconscious, Sakura's chakra was so minuscule that Sasuke had to concentrate hard just to sense it. Sasuke was neither an optimist nor a pessimist, but he was beginning to worry about how long she had left.

* * *

Typically, they were always talking. Tashiga was always yelling, Kato never spoke above a low tone, and Chigu always tried to get them to get along. But now, they were just utterly silent. None of them knew what to say - what was there to say? They had sensed that extremely high chakra and they could tell that Sakura-sensei was worried.

"D-do you guys think that Sakura-sensei is . . ." Chigu trailed off, unable and unwilling to formulate his thought.

Tashiga, one to enjoy the spotlight, snorted, "Relax, Chigu-kun! Sensei is fine. I'm more worried about those ninja who threatened us - she looked pissed."

"Yeah," Kato chuckled, his personable Inuzuka self showing through in times of calm. "I'm sure she's kicking their ass right now with her punches."

"How can she _kick_ their asses with her _punches_?" Chigu questioned, more to himself than to the Genin.

". . . shut up," the brunette shinobi muttered.

The silence that followed afterward was shattered when Chihone began to howl. His light, airy, but mournful wail struck a fear into the Genin's hearts that went far deeper than anything a powerful ninja's chakra could inflict. Kato was the first to move, standing up from the park bench they had been sitting on, and knelt beside his puppy, sorrow etched in his features. Chihone absolutely adored Sakura-sensei and for him to not know where she was was taking a toll on the dog's mind. Scratching him behind the ears comfortingly, the scraggly-haired boy almost felt like joining him. Instead, he bowed his head, thoughts all for his wonderful sensei.

For once, Tashiga didn't tease him; if anything, she was trying to hold back her own tears. The small, cream-colored ninken seemed to be vocalizing their greatest fear, bringing to light what they all tried to push aside.

There was no doubt that the three Genin were closer to their sensei than a normal team and each looked up to her for all of her different qualities. Chigu admired her intellect and insight; in his eyes, her wisdom knew no bounds. Tashiga had wanted to be as strong as her since her mother had been brought back from the brink of death by Sakura. She still hadn't told her sensei that she wanted to learn medical ninjutsu - she was afraid of being rejected. And Kato had dreamed of being as strong in will as her, struggling to make a name for himself like she had done to the entire ninja world. She was never afraid of standing up for herself or for others and he wanted to be like that too.

They were so deeply absorbed in their thoughts that they didn't hear someone approaching until that person was right in front of them.

"Tashiga, Kato, Chigu, you need to come quickly," Shizune, looking more frazzled and worn that usual, was standing before them. An expertly hidden but still somewhat detectable gleam of frantic distress in her eyes jolted them from their reverie and, without a question - they were scared of an answer - followed her quickly. Chihone whined when they began to realize that they were taking the path to the hospital.

"Shizune-san . . ." The blonde mind-changer whispered, her shrill voice choked with unshed tears.

The Hokage's assistant paused in the waiting room. "She's still in surgery, so you can't-"

"Surgery!" All three cried out. The tears that Tashiga had been holding back finally fell, dripping into her cheeks and splashing on the ground. Sniffling loudly, sobs that could have been mistaken for hiccups made it past her tightly sealed lips as she scrubbed roughly at her eyes. Kato could barely breathe, he was so terrified.

"W-What happened, Shizune-san?" Chigu whimpered.

"You'll have to ask Hinata-chan; I'm needed back there. I just came to get you guys because, of all people, you deserve to know what happens." Before she dashed into a back room, she murmured, "Sakura's strong, don't worry."

All alone in the waiting room, Tashiga let go. She wasn't wailing, but her broken cries were enough to shake the two boy's confidence. Hinata must have heard her from wherever she had been, for she quickly rounded a corner and was instantly by the sobbing Yamanaka's side. "Tashiga, calm down. Crying won't help your sensei."

"Yeah," Naruto and Sasuke entered as well. "Sakura-chan wouldn't want you guys to cry." He gave them his trademark grin, but they were all staring at Sasuke.

He wasn't looking at anyone, gazing blankly at a wall. "S-Sasuke-san," Kato whispered shakily, his knees suddenly weak. "I-Is that . . . sensei's blood on y-your shirt?" The gentle-natured Akimichi beside him was absolutely horrified. Sasuke's entire shirt was dripping red.

"Hn," he answered numbly, unable to think clearly at the moment. The blood had soaked through the cloth and it clung to his chest; he was sure that when he went to remove it, he would find that the blood had stained his chest red too. And he couldn't handle that at the moment.

Naruto, seeing the young Genin about to turn hysterical, quickly tried to quell their fears. "Hey, guys, you know Sakura-chan, right? You know how strong she is. I've seen her spring back from worse than this." He grinned hugely, eyes scrunched tight.

"Was she poisoned then, too?"

All three Jounin stared at Kato, who, for once, didn't look away. Chihone, one of the most loyal dogs from the Inuzuka clan, was standing beside him, growling. "I can smell it in her blood; Chihone can too." For the first time in a very very long time, he glared at a higher class ninja. "Don't lie to us. We're Genin, we can take it!"

Tashiga couldn't help but gawk at her usually timid teammate. Fired up again, she jumped up from the chair and snapped out, "Right! You can't lie to us! She's our sensei - Shizune-san even said that we deserved to know!"

Hinata bit her lip, "We're sorry, but we didn't want you guys to worry."

"She's our sensei," Chigu spoke up quietly, "Holding back the truth from us isn't going to make us worry less."

Then, a nurse came back, still dressed in surgery garb. "Excuse me, who's here for Sakura-sempai?" She didn't seem all that surprised when all six people turned to stare expectingly at her. "She's somewhat stable now, not completely out of the woods, but her chance of survival is greater than 70%." Smiling softly, the nurse couldn't help but feel accomplished when the three young ninja, obviously Sakura-sempai's Genin team she always bragged about, cheered happily and she didn't have the heart to tell them to quiet down.

"You'll be able to visit her now, but only one at a time." She hadn't even finished her sentence when the three Genin raced down the hallway. "Wait, you're going the wrong way!"

When they found her room, Tashiga and Kato began to argue about who got to see her first. Nose-to-nose, neither were going to back down and Chigu was too shot through with anxiety to even try to separate them. So, taking advantage of the situation in a way that was most un-Chigu-like, he sneaked past them and into Sakura-sensei's room, closing the door behind him gently.

All that echoed around the room was the steady beat of the machines and Sakura's soft breathing. Suddenly, he had no idea what to do - he didn't dare turn around. It just hit him, how vulnerable and feeble his crazy strong sensei was right now and he had no desire to see her in a weakened state. But he swallowed down his discomfort, spinning around in one movement and taking in Sakura's state with his own eyes and judgment.

And nearly cried. There were tubes hooked up to her, and her pale skin was a deathly white. A regulator was over her mouth while her body looked like it had gone through a cheese-grater and someone had tried to piece her back together with bandages. Shaking, Chigu gulped, unprepared for a sight like this. Still, he inched forward, never imagining himself as being scared of Sakura-sensei. He sat in the chair beside the bed, the heavy hospital smell making him feel sick.

"Um, s-sensei . . . I, uh," Chigu cleared his throat, unsure what to say. Finally, the tears came to his eyes and, clutching her blanket like a lifeline, he sobbed out, "Sensei, I was so worried about you! You *sob* you could have died out there! I-I don't think any of us could handle it if you died, sensei. P-please, you can't ever scare us like that again! Please!"

There was nothing but silence in reply to his outburst and he cried one last time before wiping his eyes on a tissue and leaving, but not before removing his Konoha headband. "Sensei, I swear on my honor as a shinobi, I will work harder - as hard as I can, to get stronger! I don't want something like this to ever happen again!" Again, only silence answered him.

He shuffled out, Tashiga quietly entering behind him. Kato was leaning against the wall, his bangs covering his eyes. Chigu followed his lead.

"Oh, Sakura-sensei," Tashiga whimpered, those embarrassing tears coming back. She did her best to blink them back, but one or two still fell. Sitting in the same chair Chigu had sat in, she began talking out loud to Sakura, even though the drugs had knocked the medical ninja out for a while.

"I knew you'd be fine, Sakura-sensei," she chuckled, but it sounded more like a cry when her throat closed up. "I wasn't worried about you at all. See, you've got a job to do and that's train me to be better than any stinkin' boy! And . . . and a medical ninja that could rival you and Hokage-sama. I-I just - I just want to make you proud of me, sensei. I want ninja everywhere to know my name, Yamanaka Tashiga, and know that I was trained by the best of the best. So you . . . you can't die! You haven't taught me everything yet!" When she stopped, the blonde realized that she had started crying again.

"Stupid tears," she muttered, wiping them with her hands. "What good are they for?" Tired from her crying, Tashiga slid out of the chair and held Sakura's hand for a moment before tying something around her wrist. "You also need to keep this bandana safe for me. If you die, then you've failed and I won't stand for failure - and neither will you!"

With a sad glance at her sensei, Tashiga left, sitting in a corner outside of Sakura's room. There was an unspoken understanding that the team would stick together while their sensei was in such bad condition. Kato, the last to see her, almost tip-toed into her room, his stomach twisted up in knots. But, thankfully, she didn't look as bad as his imagination had drawn up. At least he couldn't see her wounds.

He sat in the same chair as the others and, for a few minutes, just watched her face. Immensely relieved that she was in Konoha, safe, he grasped her hand and cried, letting his tears flow freely in the room where no one but his best friend could see him. Chihone felt the same sorrow as he did and nuzzled Sakura's leg, whining.

"S-Sakura-sensei," Kato whimpered, "I-I'm so so sorry I'm being weak. I-I can't help it, I'm s-scared for you," he paused to sniffle. "W-we thought you were . . . were . . . " Biting back a fresh wave of tears, he gulped in some air. "I promise, I will get stronger. I won't let anyone else close to me get hurt like this - and that includes you, sensei." Chihone barked.

Her face was unresponsive, not even a hint of a smile or anything. The Inuzuka sighed, "She can't even here me."

"Don't be so sure of that, Kato-kun."

With a gasp, Kato instantly whipped out his kunai, brandishing it in front of himself and standing between the direction of the voice and Sakura. "Show yourself!"

Smirking, Sasuke emerged from the shadows of the room. The moon shone high in the sky and it's light cast incredible shadows all around the room. The Uchiha's black eyes flashed from its light as he gazed at Sakura, a peculiar look in his eyes that had Kato curious.

Kato was far more perceptive than his teammates thought he was. Unfortunately, he often blew things out of proportion when he did this, hence the reason he was always afraid of enemy ninja. "You love Sakura-sensei!"

Sasuke didn't even flinch, "Yes, I do. I have for a long time, almost since I came back years ago."

"Oh," Kato sat in an awkward silence after that, avoiding all eye contact with the cold Sharingan-user.

Sasuke sensed that that quiet boy was still very concerned for Sakura; he sat down on her bed, gently holding her hand. "Kato-kun, she'll be fine." The ninken user stared at him with wide eyes, desperate for assurance. "I've known her since we were your age and not much was able to keep her down. No matter how much she was beaten, she always got back up. Not even when I left did she stay down. Instead, she got stronger and wiser, eventually making me see the error of my ways and bringing me back. When she wakes up, she'll use this opportunity to get stronger and you should too. You have a lot of potential, Kato, and so do your teammates. You guys will get through this and end up strong enough so that no one will be able to hurt your special people again. Ever."

As Kato's eyes brightened up at this, Sasuke squeezed Sakura's hand. After a moment, there was a faint grip back and, in her sleep, Sakura smiled.

* * *

**This is just something I just came up with today. I'm working on 'Consequences' too, but this was just a nice break.**

**More reviews = A happy writer! ^^**

**~Dogtooth**


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